Childminder in North East Lincolnshire

Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY396251 Inspection date 19/01/2010 Inspector Margaret Bryant

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Type of setting Childminder to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It rates council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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Royal Exchange Buildings St Ann's Square Manchester M2 7LA

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the childminding

The childminder lives with her husband and three children aged 12, eight and three years of age, on the outskirts of Cleethorpes, in north east Lincolnshire. Children have use of the ground floor of the house, which includes the sitting room and dining kitchen. They also access the upstairs, for use of the bathroom only. To the rear of the house there is an enclosed garden for children's use. The family have two pet cats.

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Description of the childminding

The childminder is registered on the Early Years register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She is able to care for a maximum of five children, two of whom may be in the early years age range. Currently she has four children on roll and two of these are in the early years age range. She is a member of the National Childminding Association.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

The childminder's enthusiasm and obvious desire to succeed, ensures all children's welfare needs are promoted and that they make good progress in their learning. They are all very settled in her well-resourced home, as she deploys her time well to make sure they are all fully safeguarded. Detailed assessment of all possible risks and well-organised, securely kept records, protect details about individual children very well. Parents are included in all aspects of her practice and she seeks to improve this continually, as well as endeavouring to further improve partnership working with others, who also assess children in the early years.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 develop the procedure for self-evaluation to clearly identify strengths and priorities for continuous improvement to benefit all children; consider using the Ofsted self-evaluation form  endeavour to continue to further partnerships with others who also assess children in the early years.

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the early years provision

Children are carefully supervised and all possible risks in the home environment, are identified and managed well by the childminder, protecting all children very well. Also, her knowledge of child protection issues, enables children to be fully protected. She knows her duty to inform Ofsted of any allegation of abuse, as well as the Local Safeguarding This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Children's Board. Parents are aware of her duty to fully protect their children and receive a copy of her safeguarding procedure and many other, comprehensive policies. She receives support from the local authority, although she is aware that, if she seeks advice from them about any child protection issues, she must never compromise children's rights of confidentiality. Her relationships with all parents are good and written comments from them for inspection, commend her reliability

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the early years provision

and helpful nature. They also feel confident as their children are happy. Their individual needs are met and the range of activities and opportunities on offer, contributes to their learning. She also shows parents her car documents, as she uses the car for transportation. This ensures parents are confident that her car is safe for use; children's own car seats are generally used. They give their written permission to allow her to take their children on outings, as well as for other aspects and activities related to the care of their children. Well-documented record keeping, with its secure storage in locked files, protects the confidentiality of individual children's details very well.

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the early years provision

Her obvious commitment to the continuous improvement of her practice, includes her intention to pursue relevant training, regarding food hygiene and safeguarding. She already has a paediatric first aid certificate and hopes to study for a level 3 qualification in Childcare. When children in the early years age range come into her care, she discussed with parents, their individual starting points. They also provided her with their children's individual profiles, given to them by other provisions previously attended. This enabled her to determine their individual starting points and make her own initial and ongoing assessments. She uses the guidance of the Early Years Statutory Framework, well, monitoring individual children's progress across all six areas. Planning for their next stages is also helped through her knowledge of their individual interests. However, to date she is not recording their individual, next steps. Parents receive, detailed, written

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the early years provision

reports about their children's progress, at the end of each term. She is also trying hard to develop close links with others, who also assess children in the early years, to further benefit children's continued learning.

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and outcomes for children

The childminder's good knowledge of the learning, development and welfare requirements, promotes their welfare and learning needs well. She is skilled at helping all children develop positive attitudes towards learning and provides constant interaction to support and extend this. For example, they all listen well at organised sessions and show curiosity as she shows them what materials she has prepared for them, to freely use and explore. As they cut the paper, using scissors quite well and gluing the different materials together, she talks to them about the recent heavy snow, helping their skills of recall, in remembering what it was like. Their self-esteem is raised and their confidence grows, as they react well to the praise and encouragement from the childminder and create their craft own snowmen. Children know the daily routine well and have opportunities for free- play, where they are able to make decisions and choose what to do from

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and outcomes for children

a wide range of freely-available activities. Sometimes they play happily on their This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 own and with others, although, they occasionally have to be guided to play together well, to share and say 'sorry' if they upset their friends. They all enjoy the quiet, 'winding down' times, sitting together on the settee and watching age- appropriate, short, television programmes, in which they become totally engrossed.

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and outcomes for children

Children adopt healthy habits and begin to understand that before they eat, they must all go upstairs together and wash any germs off their hands. After drying them on individual, paper towels, they enjoy a healthy lunch, prepared by the childminder. They feel important as she lets them decide what filling they wish to have in their sandwich and makes them on request. Children also have a choice of what they wish to drink. Nutritious and healthy snacks are offered to children during the day and include; fresh fruit, vegetable sticks and dried fruit. After lunch all children enjoy a short period of outdoor play in her garden; because it is cold and Winter, they know they need to put on their coats, hats, gloves; sometimes they need with the fastenings. When outdoors children benefit from the fresh air and the physical activity they get, choosing scooters on which to ride. They also enjoy jumping up, to catch and burst bubbles, created by the bubble machine the

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and outcomes for children

childminder sets up for them. Whilst having fun outdoors, she reminds them about keeping safe, taking care not to slip, with explanations as to the possible consequence of hurting themselves. Children really enjoy being creative and enjoy learning about and making patterns. Photographs show them enjoying riding their bikes on the wet ground, using plastic knives to make patterns with icing on buns they bake and using different cutters to make models from play dough.

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and outcomes for children

All children appear happy and safe, displaying a real sense of belonging to the setting. They are helped to feel safe as they learn about the fire evacuation procedure and take part in fire drills. She helps them learn about different modes of transport and takes them on short train and bus rides to talk to them about road safety. She helps children to understand and celebrate the different seasons, learning about different animals, including those who hibernate and to celebrate and learn about different cultural and religious celebrations. They sing songs together, love listening to and exploring books for themselves and go on outings to see animals in their natural habitat, for example, seals. Children are helped to learn about opposites, colours and numbers. Children who attend school nursery, are helped to hold pencils correctly, to form and write letters and learn the alphabet through use of phonics. Although

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and outcomes for children

she has only been minding for a short time, her obvious love of her role in caring for children and her enthusiasm in providing them with a wide range of opportunities, ensures they are making good progress in their learning. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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and managed?

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 2 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 3 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 2 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 2 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 2

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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